Poison

Name: Poison
Rating: 3.95 (2183 reviews)
Author: Ed McBain

87th Precinct • Book 39

by Ed McBain

3.95 Goodreads

(2.2K ratings)

256 pages Published 1987 Mystery

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Why You'll Love This

The detective investigating the femme fatale is falling for her — and McBain makes you believe it's completely reasonable.

Great if you want: classic noir tension wrapped in procedural realism
The experience: lean and propulsive — McBain never wastes a page
The writing: McBain's dialogue is razor-sharp, rhythm built from the street up
Skip if: you're new to the series — character depth builds over 38 books

About This Book

When a beautiful woman's former lovers keep turning up dead, Detective Hal Willis of the 87th Precinct finds himself investigating a case that hits uncomfortably close to home — because he's falling hard for the prime suspect. Poison puts a familiar detective in unfamiliar emotional territory, where the line between professional judgment and personal desire blurs with every encounter. The stakes aren't just a solved case; they're Willis's credibility, his career, and possibly his life.

What makes this entry in McBain's long-running series stand out is how personal it gets without ever losing the crisp, street-level realism that defines the 87th Precinct books. McBain strips the prose down to its leanest and lets tension do the heavy lifting, balancing genuine romantic danger against procedural detail with the confidence of a writer who knows exactly where every sentence is going. Willis has always been one of the precinct's more understated figures, and watching him caught off-balance here gives the novel an intimacy that rewards readers who've followed the series — while still working cleanly as a standalone thriller.